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| Tennessee State grad Oprah Winfrey didn’t go to an ivy league school — Adam’s rubric for success. |
In his column yesterday Adam Goodman tries oh so hard to explain how Penn craft us into “good citizens.” A noble thought, but after four years at Penn and almost a year in the real world its clear to me that Adam’s argument is absurd. All three prongs of it.
Adam’s first point is ethics should by mandatory for everyone. I took LGST210 (business ethics). One of the first things covered is the difficulty of changing your entire ethical construct at such a late age. I’m inclined to agree. Adam, if you think that one broad-based introductory ethics class is the key to preparing the leaders of tomorrow, then you’re naïve.
His second point regarding a mandatory study abroad program is a great idea in principle but a horrible one in practice. Some students simply can’t afford to study abroad’especially in Europe, Australia and New Zealand where most students go where it’s extremely expensive. Why impose the financial burden? It’s also tough to get credit for many courses and some people need 8 semesters here at 5.5 credits a pop just to graduate. What about international students or students for whom this is their first time away from home? Are they not already broadening their horizons. Not everyone is as sheltered as the writer.
Adam’s final point is that there should be mandatory community service. You shouldn’t have to force people to help those less fortunate. That’s not community service. That’s pity.
Yet, Goodman rationalizes this by saying how his own experiences opened his eyes. I find it tremendously saddening that it took mandatory community service in high school for this “sheltered upper middle class kid” to realize not everyone was as lucky as him. If that is the case, then I would highly question whether his IQ is over 120. There are people who need help? Who knew?
Goodman closes by saying, “We’re smart, we will be wealthy and we will be influential.” If this is type of thinking is considered “smart” then we’re in a lot of trouble. I hope it never will be influential. But maybe I’m just being practical.
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April 19th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
And Craig Cohen makes his triumphant return to the opinion section.
April 19th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Great post.Glad to see someone take shots at that guy’s bad journalism.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Adam Goodman pointed out at a real issue here, although the solutions he offered may not be the best. But having lived in three countries in different continents, I can tell you that Penn students do lack in ethical conscience and empathy for others (especially those outside the Penn community). Individualism and an excessive praise of pragmatism are at the core of this problem. And anyway, if Penn students are so clever, can’t they learn something new, something which involves some reading and a lot of thinking?
April 20th, 2007 at 3:25 am
Hey way to just tear a guy’s suggestions apart without offering any suggestions of your own! Really helpful!